Mau Mau to wait to 2016 for their case against to start

BY PIUS MAUNDU

@piusmaundu

 piusmaundu@yahoo.com

Uncompensated Mau Mau victims will have to wait until next year for their cases against the British government to be heard, their lawyers revealed yesterday. 

Forty thousand Kenyans who were tortured, mistreated, subjected to forced labor, and detained during the State of Emergecy in 1952, and who were excluded when 5200 others were compensated by the UK government in 2013, have had cases pending in UK courts. 

Freddie Cosgrove-Gibson, whose firm is representing 20, 000 of these claimants, told journalists at a Nairobi hotel that hearing of the cases will start in mid-2016 and continue for six months, following a ruling to that effect by a UK court in December last year.  

“It is disapointing that justice is being delayed for the people of Kenya,” said Mr Cosgrove-Gibson, the lead solicitor for Tandem Law. 

He derided the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) approach to the cases saying that it “has not shown interest in starting any negotiations” despite having settled similar claims. 

 “Nevertheless, we remain committed to work with the court and the FCO to bring these matters to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion,” said Mr Cosgrove-Gibson, whose firm is partnering with Nairobi-based Miller & Company Advocates on the Mau Mau cases. 

In 2013, the same year Mr Cosgrove-Gibson took up the present cases, UK paid 20 million pounds (approximately Kshs 2.6 billion) to 5200 Mau Mau torture victims who were represented by Leigh Day, a UK law firm. 

Making the ruling in favor of the elderly freedom fighters, Mr Justice McCombe had said that there was enough evidence in their case to prove the existence of systematic torture of detainees during the State of Emergency. 

 “We understand the pain and the grief felt by those who were involved in the events of emergency in Kenya,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague had said after the Leigh Day settlement. 

“The British government recognizes that Kenyans were subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration,” added Mr Hague, following the 2013 ruling that pundits saw as precedence-setting. 

Mr Cosgrove-Gibson exuded confidence that he has overwhelming evidence for human rights abuses on his clients and reiterated that the present case is different from the settled one.

In the ongoing case Tandem Law is seeking amends on behalf of its clients for not only being tortured and detained but also being forced to work for British colonialists without pay, he said. 

Cecil Miller, of Miller & Company Advocates said: “Our aim is to secure adequate and long-overdue financial compensation for claimants and hope that this matter can be drawn to a satisfactory conclusion to the elderly claimants before it is too late.”

Mr Miller regretted that some fraudsters purporting to facilitate their compensation by the UK were soliciting money from his clients and urged those who had been fallen victim to report such cases to the police.

He reiterated that his firm did not require payments from the clients, sentiments that were echoed by Mr Cosgrove-Gibson. 

He said that he took up this case following his resolve to redress a wrong that had been committed to Kenyans. 

Asked if he thought the assistance of the Kenyan state would realize justice was served faster to the Mau Mau, Mr Cosgrove-Gibson said that he welcomed any endorsements.

Daily Nation, January 22, 2015

Plans to make Nairobi City people-friendly unveiled

BY PIUS MAUNDU

@piusmaundu

piusmaundu@yahoo.com

Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, a wealthy and philanthropic Indian merchan, who in 1906 donated Jeevanjee Gardens 

City Hall Way is going to be modified into a one-way road as part of ongoing developments aimed at making Nairobi city people-friendlier, Nairobi City County Government officials said on Friday.

Upon completion, this project will see the road running from Intercontinental Hotel to Hilton Hotel give way to a wider footpath that will not only accommodate more pedestrians but will also provide recreational space, said Patrick Akivanga, of the city planning department.

“In friendly cities in the world, more space is reserved to people than to motor vehicles. We are developing Nairobi to be an intercontinental city,” explained Mr Akivanga when he accompanied other county leaders and UN-Habitat visitors in a guided tour through Jeevanjee Gardens that is undergoing rehabilitation. 

Evans Ondieki, the County Environment, Water, Energy, Forestry and Natural Resources ECM said that Jeevanjee Gardens is one of sixty public spaces the county government in partnership with development partners is rehabilitating. 

The County government has installed gates on the Muindi Mbingu Street and Moi Avenue entrances and paved the footpath connecting the two gates through the park using mazeras.

Commending the County for the ongoing redesign of the park, Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, UN-Habitat executive director said that leaders have a responsibility to preserve public spaces. 

“Urbanization creates barriers and therefore there has to be deliberate strategies by leaders to breakdown these and bring back the human spirit to urban centers,” said Dr. Kacyira, a one-time Governor in Rwanda, and said parks make cities friendly to the people. 

Jeevanjee Gardens is an important park not only for its centrality in the Central Business District but also its historical significance, Mr Ondieki reiterated. 

In 1906, it was donated by Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, a wealthy and philanthropic Indian merchant who worked with the colonial government for use as a public park. 

At this point, Mr Jeevanjee, who passed on in 1936, and whose iron statute now poignantly stands at the park, would not have imagined that over the years the park would be neglected to the point of becoming a hideout for dreaded thugs at some point. 

Besides the Jeevanjee statute, the park has a statute of Queen Victoria, two public toilets, a shop, a cigarette smoking zone, benches for people to relax, and a concrete sculpture featuring two women. 

“This one was donated by a local artist to commemorate an occurrence in which a woman delivered her baby in this park,” explained Richard Irungu, an architect with the County during the tour in the park. 

Mr Irungu said that part of the rehabilitation of the park will be to lower the hedge, create a space for the youth to showcase their art, and install a children’s play facility. 

However, this rehabilitation will not tamper with the greenery of the park, nor interfere with those who use the facility, he assured. 

It’s high time we reexamined our values

BY PIUS MAUNDU

@piusmaundu

piusmaundu@yahoo.com

Rasna Warah’s commentary on Monday came at the right time. In the article, Warah bemoans that Kenyan leaders are detached from the reality in their undertakings.

 I read the article while stuck in a traffic jam, and proceeded to the stories on the dawn attack in Mandera. 

So far, this is a sombre week. Terrorists shot 28 bus travellers at close range in Mandera. 

Solemn tales of survivors and the mourning of the kin to the victims aggrandized the grip of terror on Kenyans. But this is not an isolated incident. 

Everyone has been generous with solutions, some mundane, on containing runaway terrorism. Calls for the resignation of the Inspector General of Kenya Police Service, David Kimaiyo and Joseph Ole Lenku, the interior cabinet secretary, have never been louder.  

 This comes at the backdrop of the resignation of Chuck Hagel, Us defence secretary. 

Hagel resigned for failing to post good results on the fight against terrorism. In his place, President Obama now has the onus to appoint another defence secretary. 

Methinks that with the new appointee United States will be better placed in dealing with Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Importantly, Hagel will move on, leading a honorable life. 

Back home, its certain that the security agents charged with manning our borders, and anyone collaborating with terrorists would admire to live honorably. Even our leaders. 

Learning from Chuck Hagel, perhaps its high time we examined our individual and collective phyches.